re: If you think anyone who's ever played soccer is better than Lionel Messi, you're stupidPosted by crazy4lsu on 3/4/18 at 2:42 pm to Masterag

quote:I’m guessing y’all aren’t old enough to have seen zidane control and dictate an entire game by himself. Think YaYa 2014-15 for a solid decade.

That's not true. Zidane had a lot of ups and downs. I watched him plenty. Someone on Bigsoccer did a career retrospective on him as well, and he had long periods of inconsistency. He was a fantastic attacking midfielder nonetheless, but he could never do what Messi does. Messi controls the game, can dictate play, can dribble, can score, can assist; Messi could play as a DLP and be among the best in the world and he could play exclusively as a striker and be the best in the world. Messi's passing is unreal, he carries the ball as good as anyone who has ever played the game, and his close control combined with his power and quickness make him difficult to stop.

re: If you think anyone who's ever played soccer is better than Lionel Messi, you're stupidPosted by RandySavage on 3/4/18 at 6:42 pm to Broski

Messi was the focal point of their defending? Messi has a chance to either win it late or tie it up late can’t remember and blew it. He’s amazing but it’s revisionist history to act like he was some driving force in that WC run

re: If you think anyone who's ever played soccer is better than Lionel Messi, you're stupidPosted by crazy4lsu on 3/4/18 at 6:50 pm to RebelVol

quote:Hard to carry a team when you don’t do the most essential part of the game, scoring

Well he was partly injured, and Argentina had a bunch of problems in midfield and upfront. Messi created 23 chances, the most in the tourney, he had as many successful dribbles, 46, as the second most player, Robben, had total dribbles, and Higuain and Aguero played like garbage that tournament. Messi often had to receive the ball very deep just to get the attack going, and received very little help from his strikers, and he didn't have a passer in midfield to help him get the ball higher up the field.

He played really well in the Switzerland and Netherlands games from what I recall, but he didn't play as well in the Belgium game, which is the one game Higuain actually scored. Overall he created 13 chances in the knockout rounds; he just wasn't helped very much by his teammates. That's why his final stat line is a bit misleading, and why he won the Golden Ball, despite not having as flashy of stats as Muller.

re: If you think anyone who's ever played soccer is better than Lionel Messi, you're stupidPosted by crazy4lsu on 3/4/18 at 6:53 pm to RandySavage

quote:Messi was the focal point of their defending? Messi has a chance to either win it late or tie it up late can’t remember and blew it. He’s amazing but it’s revisionist history to act like he was some driving force in that WC run

But he was. He created 31% of Argentina's total chances that tournament. He had very little help, which is plainly obvious when you watched the games. Aguero and Higuian were historically bad. He also scored 50% of the total goals Argentina scored that tournament.

re: If you think anyone who's ever played soccer is better than Lionel Messi, you're stupidPosted by crazy4lsu on 3/4/18 at 7:04 pm to RebelVol

quote:Point is, Messi is an attacker. What does an attacker do? Score.

But watching the games, you'd realize where he was receiving the ball, which was 50 yards from goal. He had very little midfield or forward line help. Lavezzi, Aguero, and Higuian all had poor tournaments. Despite this he still created plenty of chances, and was tied for 3rd in goals scored in the tournament. He also contributed to 50% of the total goals scored by Argentina that tournament. That he assisted one time in the knockout stages doesn't mean he had a poor tournament. That's a very weak argument.

re: If you think anyone who's ever played soccer is better than Lionel Messi, you're stupidPosted by WHATDOINO on 3/4/18 at 7:12 pm to RebelVol

I'm sorry but I just can't GIVE the guy the GOAT status when he completely shite the bed on the retirement penalty. That's supposedly the easiest of all for these greats and he has routinely fricked it up.

He is great at all those other things you guys have said.

To me it's all about goals and scoring and the guy I watch game after game scoring every way possible is cr7.

Yes I have a man crush but the guy is a winner and he is an arrogant prick....but he seems to always shine on the biggest stages and for me that's what I will go with.

Disclaimer.....I have 1/32 the soccer knowledge of crazy and others on this forum